LONDON: Strong results by tech giant Apple lifted Wall Street into uncharted territory Wednesday and helped European stocks recover from earlier weakness.
The Dow blue-chip index rose above the key 22,000 level for the first time after Apple reported better revenues and profits for the past quarter.
"US stocks are higher in early action, with the tech sector getting a boost from the better-than-expected earnings results from Dow member Apple," said analysts at the Charles Schwab brokerage.
Apple shares surged by six percent at the opening bell.
Political and geopolitical uncertainties weighed on sentiment, as did weaker-than-expected US private sector jobs data from payroll firm ADP, but corporate earnings won the day.
New York's strong start helped European stock markets off morning lows, with major stock markets in the region trading steady by mid-afternoon.
Disappointment in the banking sector, however, held Europe back.
In Paris, shares in French lender Societe Generale slid after revealing that second-quarter net profits tumbled on the cost of settling a lawsuit with Libya's sovereign wealth fund.
In London, shares in emerging markets lender Standard Chartered dropped on news that it was not resuming payment of its shareholder dividend.
And German peer Commerzbank lost ground in Frankfurt after logging a second-quarter loss on restructuring costs.
Many traders said they were treading cautiously before important events later this week, and cashed in gains won on Tuesday's strong eurozone economic growth data.
- Apple also lifts Asia -
The Bank of England will announce its latest interest rate decision on Thursday. A day later, the United States will publish its key healthcheck on the state of the world's biggest economy.
"Overall sentiment remains neutral with many traders preferring to stay on the sidelines for now until at least the BoE tomorrow or even until Friday's US non-farm payrolls data," said Markus Huber, analyst at trading firm City of London Markets.
In Asia, markets drew considerable strength from iPhone maker Apple's results.
Sentiment was also buoyed by upbeat Chinese manufacturing figures.
Higher revenues and profits at Apple helped trigger fresh buying in Tokyo as a range of Japanese companies supply components for the California-based firm's smartphone and other devices.
Tokyo's Nikkei stocks index meanwhile ended up 0.5 percent. Shanghai drifted lower after closing at a 2017 record-high on Tuesday, as investors took profits.
Sydney stocks slid, with banks and commodities ending down, before mining giant Rio Tinto reported a 93-percent jump in its first-half net profit on the back of rising commodity prices.
Elsewhere, India's central bank cut interest rates for the first time in almost a year, responding to a slowing economy and record low inflation.
The Reserve Bank of India said the benchmark repo rate -- the level at which it lends to commercial banks -- would be cut by 25 basis points to six percent, a near seven-year low.
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